Pogačar cruises, Godon keeps winning & Roglič fades at Romandie | THEMOVE+

I would say, more the country, I personally think Pugachar stronger than any other year he has been.

“Until now, so I think the era of Pugachar is going to be over, probably when he decides”

it to be over, probably when he loses interest, probably when his motivation goes down. You know, after he has won the majority of his objectives, I think that's when the Pugachar era is going to start to decline, other than that, I can't see anybody coming close. Everybody welcome back to the move. Plus, I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Yohan Brneon. We are going to talk about a little bit of racing news, a little bit of cycling news,

and a little bit of racing action. We have the tour of Romadi going on right now. State three stages in three, I guess actually four because there was a prologue. If you haven't been following, you haven't missed much because Taday Pugachar is leading. The race has won multiple stages. He's won two stages. The other two stages have been

won by Dorian Godon. So only two stage winners through the first four stages of the race.

Pugachar winning the overall ahead of Florian Lippewitz, 17 seconds back. Lenny Martinez, 26 seconds back. These months, you're gonna nod hog in a 33 seconds back. And then little track in 18-year-old Albert Whitten Phillips in a 41 seconds back. Pretty impressive. We'll also talk about today's Eschborn Frankfurt, one by one of the hosts of this podcast. You'll have to guess later in the show. And tour of Turkey as well as in addition to

in Yohan Skating, a big co-sponsor with net company. But Yohan, let's start with Romadi just because we just watched the finish, it's top of mind. Dorian Godon win stage 3. He now is five world tour wins this year, which is as much as honor, delies, entire career. So having a pretty

“good 20-26, what do you think about this race so far? Yeah, Spencer. Well, first of all, I think it's”

remarkable to see tour of Romadi. You know, not, I mean, obviously, you know, let's impugachars there, wrongly, which is there, lipo, which is there. But four world tour teams have decided, not to participate. You know, there's this rule. Yeah, I was wondering about that. Yeah, that you can, as a world tour team, you can, you can skip one race. But, you know, four world tour teams have decided to skip the same race. So only 15 teams, 14 world tour teams and one

protein, which is two-door, the Swiss team, the, you know, so it's, it's, it's amazing to see a

Peloton of only 105 riders, 15 times 7 is 105. So only 105 riders in the Peloton, which is not really what we're used to see in, in a world tour race. So to Romadi obviously is struggling, they didn't invite any extra teams. I've heard that there are financial struggles with the race, so yeah, that's, that's a bit, that's a bit disappointing, obviously. But still, you know, any race who has started pugachar at the start is obviously there's, it's attractive, you know, it looks to

me like pugachar is going to win this race without too many problems there was, but there's been one hard finish, hard race, hard stage, which is for stage two, pugachar attacked and did like six kilometer, but I'm not gonna say in a tack, it's just stained effort. Yes, Lenny Martinez was able to follow him, you know, Lenny Martinez pretty good, you know, like he's the only, I mean he's the guy that this year has been able to follow an attack of Jonas Wingerard in Pyrenees and now follow the attack of pugachar

“if you could call it an attack. I personally, I think I don't know how you have seen this, this,”

this stage Spencer. To me, it looked like pugachar was obviously accelerating to make this election, but he did not go full gas in my opinion. It was also in his own interest to keep a few guys with

him because it was still, I would say 25, 30k to the finish after that climb, so there was ultimately

four riders, right together was pugachar, Lenny Martinez, Florian Lippewicz, who came back, and then you're gonna knock, we talked about him a few years ago in our up and commerce shows, he's still very young, but you know, comes from Nordic skiing, was in elite world level, elite Nordic skier, but definitely a big talent, that's to top four in GC now also, and pugachar won that stage in the sprint, it was kind of logical, he did the majority of the work, Lippewicz didn't do any work,

yesterday's win, where there was a selection that was 30, 35, maybe 40 riders together,

but there were sprinters there, amongst them, Dorian Gaudon, who you just said five wins already, and he's a sprinter, and pugachar beat him in his sprint, that was, for the moment, my highlight of the tour of Romney. I agree, easiest, easiest stage of the race, and pugachar wins, pretty impressive, on stage, I guess it's like stage two, technically called stage one, he was definitely not going all out, and I was surprised actually how much I know that I'd said pugachar has washed, he's done,

it's the era of Paul Siksos, get pugachar out of our face people, I was surprised actually, I mean, you're on, this is on wins day, he just wrapped up his classic season on Sunday, he's on a climb,

it's top and out, 30 K from the finish line, headwind, yeah, I don't think he's trying to go solo,

he did not look like he was trying to drop anybody to me, and I crunched the numbers on it, if this can be believed, my calculation, he was subthreshold, so four hundred and fifteen watts, six point four watts per kilo for almost 30 minutes, I mean that's, that is a hefty effort, that's a long climb, I know people are going to be like, it's not even seven watts per kilo, but just for reference, like go to, I don't know, you're just going to go out of Catalonia,

you know, he's doing 37-minute climb at six point three watts per kilo, so it's rare, you would see

“someone at that duration doing seven watts per kilo, but I didn't think he was, I think he wanted”

people with them, right? I think that worked out perfectly, because he got over the climb, he had a group working with him, flooring, look what's most to listen to the show, because unlike his previous day of race, he had rock which behind and was not working, declining to work, but I don't think anyone would realistically was going to be put out right there, and then yeah, as you say, stage two, winning that sprint, holy smokes, that was impressive. I mean,

he's probably, what do you think? Do you think he's a kilo heavier than his normal race weight, because of the classics? Maybe slightly more. I don't know how I feel. I think he's a few kilos heavier, I don't know exactly his weight. He said, you know, in an interview, so I guess that would kind of happen. I would say, I would think that for the two or he's going to be at least two kilos lighter. Yeah, you know, so obviously it's a plenty of time, he knows what he's doing.

It looks like this guy just has everything he does on the control, except things in the race that happen, you know, certain incidents that you cannot control. But yeah, I mean,

“normally I think Pogacha is going to do a check next to Turov Ramandi, you know, check that one”

of his list of races he hasn't won yet, but still, you know, it needs to be, I guess tomorrow's the hardest stage, there's a climb of about seven kilometers, they do it three times. All the stages are hard, but there's not a big, huge mountain, let's say, you know, like a super long and steep climb, like an outpying climb or something. So I'm going to see the same guys again, and Lenny Martinez is going to be so I think the top tree is probably already set, you know,

it's going to be Pogacha or Lenny Martinez and Lipovitz. Lipovitz, I mean, listen, I mean, you can say what you want about Florian Lipovitz, but this guy is on a mission to be top tree in every single stage race he's doing. Since last year, all right. Yeah, since last year, so pretty impressive. It's super, super impressive. I mean, it's a consistency that a lot of riders, I guess he did get eighth at Garvey. I forgot about that. Okay. Wow. Yeah. But yes, other than that, I mean, he's almost

always top three super impressive. Also, you mentioned this race having financial troubles. It looks

beautiful physically, like unbelievable. It looks a little budget. I call some of these stage finishes. It's like, yeah, we just like put up a little thing on a highway and there's 50 people here watching it. It does not look like a prestigious world to her stage race, even if either race, answer, you know, one thing I wanted to call out, I've seen, I mean, I've seen an interview of

“the organizer or the race director. His name is called, is Richard Chasso. I think he's been the”

organizer, director of Romney for many, many years. I don't know. I think he has race to also in the past, not sure. I saw an interview. So he was obviously talking about the financial problems. And he said that, you know, luckily they have pogachar, that pogachar is coming for free because it doesn't have to pay a fee. And it was great for, obviously, the exposure of the race.

history of the tour of Romney that somebody has asked money for a rider. And it was about the

“participation of Lance Armstrong. I've been thinking about this and I cannot remember at all.”

First of all, as far as I remember, the participation of Lance Armstrong and tour of Romney

has never been a discussion. It simply did never fit into his schedule. You know, we always did

the classics until obstacle gold race. And then, you know, went on training camps and then we came back to either to Dolfine and or to our Switzerland and another race back in the days mid-Elebrate or route to suit before. That was it, you know. So I would ask Richard Chasso here publicly to show me proof of that discussion, because I cannot remember at all having ever asked a starting fee for the participation of Lance Armstrong in the tour of Romney. It was never part of the

program. Maybe, yeah, we want to see emails here. I don't know, maybe I forgot, but

“I think I would remember or maybe somebody else would ask for for money on the hospital. I would say,”

yeah, I mean, normally normally not be normally have been me. George Schenkeppie on behalf of Lance Armstrong.

Schenfer. I don't like it. When did the tour of Georgia take place? Was that like June or something? Now you're asking me a good question. But probably be around the Romney. Okay, probably may. Probably may. Yeah, no, listen, I mean, Lance has raised the tour of Switzerland once. Actually twice, because in 2010, I think he also raised the tour of Switzerland. But yeah, you know, during the seven years of the tour, once one time he did not do the Dolfine

and it was, we did Dolfine Switzerland because there was an uphill time trial in the tour and

there was an uphill time trial on purpose in Dolfine Switzerland, which is the reason why we went

other than that. Yeah, Mr. Richard Chasso, I would ask you to come with some, yeah, tangible proof. I don't get that would have been somebody asking for a start money for Lance. I guess it's possible to happen before you were director while you were still racing. No, probably not. I maybe I don't know, I don't know. I cannot imagine Lance going to the tour of Romney. No, it's like seeing a shark on a mountain top. I was just like, hey, buddy, you want to go over. It rains almost every day.

It's going to be so fun. Okay, so you bring up a good point. I, this race usually, I'm like, man, I can't imagine getting set to this thing, the weather's terrible. It's good this year. I heard it debate on a rival podcast, or something like, oh, Romney, as you say, it's in financial trouble. There's teams not doing it. They were saying, oh, the calendar spot is bad. I don't know if I could actually think it's a decent little calendar spot. It's too close to the zero. No one's

going to use it for zero prep in modern cycling, but you usually get a decent, if you look at the past winners, it's a decent field. It's not like, like last year, it was a really interesting duel, which Valmeda, J. Fine, Remcuevenapol, Carlos Rodriguez wins in 2024, Adam Yates in 23, Garrett Thomas in 2021, Primoz Roglic, Primoz Roglic, Britschiport. That's pretty good, little list of reformer winners. And this year, two of the three, do it at a Frost Bowl,

I mean, for much longer. Yeah, yeah, I forgot to turn it up. Yeah. So, you know, I mean, I also think, you know, it's a Swiss race. You know, it's in the French speaking part of Switzerland. If this race has these problems, then, you know, another question I asked myself is, why does the UCI not come to the rescue? They have funds. They have a specific fund for special occasions. You know, I mean, changing the date would not be, would not be, uh, solving anything.

“The tour of Remcuevenapol has been on that spot for a long time. I think the problem is,”

very simple, Spencer. The World Tour calendar is overpopulated. There are too many races. There are too many World Tour races, which, which shouldn't be World Tour races. And, you know,

You know, they need rest. I mean, you know, it's full on for the classics by now. After, you know, after three, almost four months of racing, you know, there are many teams who have injured and sick riders. You know, and they simply cannot send a valid team to a race where they are obligated to go.

And tour of Remcue is now paying the price for this. Uh, that finally, I mean, normally

would say, okay, you know, you skip one race, two, two teams, maximum skip one race, and then there's still 16 teams. Um, so, so, yeah, I mean, it's not a coincidence that four of the World Tour

“teams are skipping this race. That's, that's not normal. In my, I agree with you. I think it's”

uploaded World Tour calendar. Do you, is there not some calling happening in 2027? Do you remember reading about this? That they're going to cut the number of World Tour races? We'll come back to this in a few future episodes. I don't, yeah, I don't see that happening because every World Tour race on the calendar is money in the pocket of the UCI, my favorite organization. That is, that is true. Yeah, they, they make money on their tour race. But then, you know, then I see

up our team there, you know, going there for his picture, it's just next to Los Angeles, you know, but he should come up with his solution and help the tour of Remcue to be fully funded, you know, I mean, there, you know, it's a Swiss organization and the Asian Los Ants, so it's, I mean,

tour of Remcue is around Los Ants basically. It's their home race on UCI. Kind of weird to me

that there's two stage races, two World Tour stage races in Switzerland. The, the solution I would

“think is combined them. Well, there are, I think it would go, you know, a lot of, there are”

other races, Spencer, that are on the World Tour calendar that should not be on the World Tour calendar. For example, the last, the race in China, whatever it calls. That's not, you know, it wants to go on. Yeah, I don't know. That is crazy. That's the world Tour race. There's other races that, you know, there's no history, there's no tradition and, you know, they're on the World Tour calendar for a reason because they have deep pockets and, you know, they, they, they, they, they fund the UCI,

very well. Which, what would be your first cut, would it be tour of Guangzhou? Oh, absolutely.

Two one G has no place on the, on the World Tour calendar. You could say, okay, you know, there needs to be in a race in Asia. Yeah, maybe, but, and then, you know, in the tour of Guangzhou, I mean, it's, nobody wants to go there. Everybody goes because they have to go. It's a holiday race for, for most of the people, you know, like, riders and stuff, just say, okay, we have to go. So let's make it fun, having a good time, no stress. But it's not at the level

of a World Tour race. And, you know, if you have two of UAE, I should not be a World Tour race. Is Alula Tour of Alula World Tour race? I don't know. No, I don't think so. I would say, you are either racing to pretty high at the UAE tour. Yeah, I think the level is still too down under should not be a World Tour race. I mean, oh, oh, I mean, oh, I taken the knives out. If it is a little weird that that's a World Tour race, I love the tour. I was probably the

number one fan of tour down under. Yeah, they'll have an ocean race, whatever it's called, not me. I mean, that's not a World Tour race. Come on, you break. There's not be a World Tour race. It's, I think that's just a money grab, right? It makes no sense. That's a World Tour race. Yeah. But just a few racing things to wrap up before we move on from this. So your official position is, Pagachar is not washed up.

The fact that he couldn't drop everyone on the first message. Okay, let's, let's go back to, you know, I saw you got a lot of grief for your comments on the last podcast by, you know, saying, I think you were also, you were misinterpreted because, you know, you said, well, you know, could this be the end of the Pagachar era? I don't think that's what you guys said. You can see how

“the era ends. I believe it's all right. Yeah. But potentially, you should have said,”

you can see how it potentially ends in a few years. If you would have said that, people would have probably, you know, understood it. But now you said, okay, and then, okay, so, listen, Pagachar, obviously, no, the Pagachar era is far from over, far from over. I would say, more of the country, I personally think Pagachar stronger than any, any other year he has been, until now. So, I think the era of Pagachar is going to be over, probably when he decides it to be over,

probably when he loses interest, probably when his motivation goes down. You know, after he has won the majority of his objectives,

coming close. Listen, he's here in Roman these basically. It's an intense training for him.

“I think, you know, he did, he was full gas fully ash two days later. He's at the start of the prologue.”

When everybody of the classic season is saying, okay, now it's time to rest guys. We agree. Yeah. Yes. It's crazy. It's crazy, man. Yeah. Like, so he's here cruising. You know, he's cruising. And so he's going to win Roman the, then he's going to go on an altitude training camp.

And then they will do the tour Switzerland. No, because he's, yeah, he's doing this just because he's never won them, right?

Yeah. But you know, Switzerland isn't really good race for before the tour. You know, it's, I think it's less stressful than, uh, then Dolphin A, uh, different racing speeds are higher. The roads are a lot better. So the speeds are higher. On the other hand, you could say Dolphin A, we keep saying Dolphin A, I don't know what it's, what it was it called now. There's your own help or something. Roll now. So whatever. Yeah. Anyway, it's the Dolphin A, man. Come on.

“And you could typically say, okay, Dolphin A is probably better because it's more French style.”

The type of roads you get used to the roads. The, the, the, the, the, the, the, you know, the asphalt, uh, it, it is different racing in France on certain roads. But, but still, you know, Pugacha doesn't eat time in the, he knows how the roads are. I like his program, man. I mean,

that I, I like it. That's another thing Spencer, which we have to take into account. We've never

talked about this, you know, of all the guys who have been, who are racing against him and will face him at the tour. Let's not forget one thing for the moment that Pugacha is the only one who didn't do an altitude training camp yet. They all went to altitude already. Yeah. That's pretty interesting. Isn't it? Yeah. You know, so, uh, I mean, man, usually, I mean, if he, if now he finishes Romney, he's not going to be, he's going to have basically he's using Romney to kind of train

and actively recover from his classics campaign. And then, you know, goes to altitude and hit normally if you go to altitude and you stay healthy, your level goes up, you know, you climb more, you lose weight and you're, you know, you're training his event of quality. Uh, if once you're adapted to, you know, after 10 days or something, I would say nowadays probably they don't have

to adapt that much because they're basically all sleeping in altitude even when they're home. Yes.

And that's a big difference, right? They did say that the camp, the point of emphasis was less time at camps, less time at altitude camps. There was like their big goal. They thought they were spending too much time in altitude. So, yeah. Yeah. But I pretty sure he's going to go

“to altitude between Romney and Switzerland. And then will he go back to altitude before the tour?”

You think? I think he's going to do a recon of stages. Yeah. Okay. So, not like specific camp, but you can't be more at altitude doing that. Typically, you can't do proper recon until the end of May. Yeah. You know, because lots of passes are still close. So, um, I would guess he's going to go to do some recon. Probably before me, that could also be a reason why he does shoot a Switzerland because Switzerland starts the day after Dolphin

here, right? Or just the day. It's like the other lap one day, I think. Yeah. So, you know, it gives you an extra week or an extra eight days at the beginning of June, which you can use to go to recon, you know, because there are a lot of passes that open on the 31st of May at the end of May. You know, they most deliberately, they leave some mountain passes close, like they don't take the snow away deliberately until the end of May. So, that could be, you know, a reason also

why Switzerland comes in handy because you can do the recon, go altitude then to recon of a few stages and, and then go go race to Switzerland. Um, good programming. And I feel like not enough is being made about, you know, you know, it wears out in art. Where's Matthew Vanderpool? Where's Matthew Patterson? Well, they're all tired from the classics. I'd feel like not enough is being made of the fact that he just finished up a classic classics campaign, historically successful, by the way,

and then two days later, he's at a stage race doing alpine climbs. That is pretty impressive. Well, it's not really outpine climbs, but sort of climbs are, I mean, like nine to 10 K long, though, like the other day, like that's a 30 minute long climb at those speeds. Yeah. Yeah. There's not many climbs actually don't do this year that are longer than 30 minutes. Even at a tour? Well, like think of it up to us, like 39 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the speed they go. Yeah. It's like here.

Madeleine 54. So that's a long climb, 42, you know. So that's actually 30 minutes is a long climb. To be doing that after the classics is super impressive. But you used to wet Laplandche? Laplandche, Laplandche. I said Laplandche. Laplandche. Yeah. Yeah. I thought you said Laplandche will fee. Laplandche, yeah. Yeah. But these climbs are not. We, we would perceive them as being very long. But the speeds they go. They're actually not, um, the, the time elapsed is not super long. Um,

other things I want to talk about racing wise. I would say, as you say, Floor in Laplandche, very good. And I mentioned them. Lenny Martinez, coming along nicely, looking very good. I super impressed with the Oregon Nordhagen on Visma was this guy. He's 21 years old. He's got really good. And Albert Whitten Phillips in 19 years old, sitting fifth overall. That's super impressive. Yeah. And I was super strong, uh, a racer, no, a racer a guy like, I mean, I mean, plus, you know,

I don't, I don't think we can consider him as, you see, a deep, deep, deep of the glamour, you know, he's strong, but he's, you know, in the big mountains, I don't think he will be, uh, with the top riders, uh, for now he's up there. So I mean, super impressive. Um, he was already in front also at

Amstel Gold Race. Uh, he was in that second group, um, behind, behind the, uh, who wasn't, uh,

“I would only do two riders, only even a pool and, yeah, he was actually playing a key role because he was”

kind of marking attacks out of like her. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Even a pool and, uh, Matthias Schelmoza, Schelmoza, yes, Schelmoza. Uh, but, uh, but, yeah, I mean, it's super talented, you know, if he's been multiple times World Champion and almost all disciplines, I guess, uh, you know, road cyclops, Mount Mike, uh, I don't know which one he would. I mean, there's one discipline he didn't win in the juniors, but he was clever, very close. Um, and, you know, seen as one of those super

talents, uh, but, but yeah, I mean, definitely, you know, we're talking about sex sauce. Uh, it's a shame for guys like, like, like, with deep feelings, but it was, you know, like, he's super good. But like, it looks like, okay, he's not existed because he had this, you know, sex ops who's, you know, you know, both everybody else, but, uh, but yeah, super, super good rider, but it's strong rider. Well, just as an example of what that's doing, to guys like Albert is someone, I heard someone say,

like, oh, man, kind of disappointing career from him so far. And this 19 years old, 2020, he's five. This is last year. He got second behind Pugachar, a Trevalle Varian scene, and then third at Perry, Perry tour is, right. And he was, I think he had the beginning of the season. He was up there last year. He was up there. I was in this year. I don't remember. No, true down under, you're right. Not under his age 18 year. Yeah. Yeah. He was up there in a few

stages like, contesting the victory basically. Yeah. You got third at tour of Hungary as an 18 year old.

“So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You got to like just set Paul, what Paul success is doing is we'll”

probably never see that again. So that's not a normal expectation. Oh, that's what we say now,

maybe it becomes the norms. I don't think it's going to become the norm. That's like saying, for Gacha, the tour winner is going to be winning Rubey. Like, I just don't think that that's not scalable. It's unique. It's unique. Yeah. I agree. I agree. Any other thoughts on Romani before we also won't be back until midweek next week. So get all your Romani thoughts speak now for every keeper piece on Romani. We might not circle back on it. No, I think, you know, I mean, it's it's the

Gacha show, it's clear. I mean, luckily, luckily, the the course is not extremely, I mean, it's hard, but it's not unsurmountable for, you know, like guys like, like Lenny Martinez, like Lippo with it's, I mean, at least they they're up there with him. You know, it's for the moment it's still seconds,

you know, and there's a bonification. So which which is for now, basically what's been deciding

the G.C. So the more or that might change, but or the last day, because it's I think it finishes on top of a climb. No, the last day. Yeah, that's it. By the way, by the way, I just check, you know, so we have, so 2016, 2005 is when Lippo, it started to come to the front. The first time we saw Lippo is in front of a big race. What's due of Roman the 2024? He finished third. Yeah, and basically

“it was first stage race. It's a profession. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember that. I was in Paris with”

my wife. I remember that and being like, I can't, sorry, can't leave the room. Lippo, it's breaking

maybe, or no, second to last stage, and you have this great quote where you're like, Richard Caripass,

“always looks like he's going faster than he really is. Yeah. I also go down. We should talk about”

him for one second. Five wins this year all world to our level. And I'd assume he's done winning at this race. The last two stages could be just won by Pagachar. So if you are the only other rider at a race to be winning other than Tade Pagachar, you're doing pretty well. Yeah. Yeah. I'm in the great signing from, from Ineos, and great for a great for good only. I mean, it takes, it takes courage as a French rider and on top of that being the

national champion to leave a French team to a foreign team. It's usually in France. It's not like,

you know, people don't like that. The media doesn't like it. You know, you're supposed to stay

with this, the French, the French, Japanese, you're supposed to stay in, in a French team. But go down, didn't, didn't listen to that. And he made a great choice, I mean, it's, it's career. He stepped up his level. I mean, he was already a super good rider, but yeah, I mean, really, really great season so far. Yeah. He's actually one two stages at Roman D in 2024. The race we're talking about with Flen lipoids. It's kind of weird. He left the cathlon because the

cathlon was a team on the rise. I don't know what happened behind the scenes there, but it's impressive and Eos got him because you'd be easy to stay at the cathlon. I would imagine, maybe there was

shaking. I don't know. Maybe they were shaking things up and he didn't feel like he was being

advertised enough, but wow. Yeah, there's another guy who, I mean, he's already at the end of his career, but the same thing, you know, like Bruno Armedal. Armedal, you know, he's, yeah, it was a really solid rider for Nicotlom and he left for Visma. They didn't seem to, you know, fight a lot to keep him. I did have a source tell me inside of the cathlon that the team was prioritizing. It was youth above everything else. So like the dance, 29. Maybe they thought, yeah, we don't

want him. He's too old. I mean, yeah, I mean, not at any cost, right? I mean, that's also something we don't know, right? I mean, the amount of these contracts, we don't know. Go don't obviously, you know, if you go to Eos, it's E-E-E as salary will be higher than he was at Decatlom. And then it's kind of also easier for a team like Decatlom to say, okay, you know, what we would like to keep you, but we won't match that offer. And if it's more than 50% difference,

you could give him a little raise, but if it's 50% or more of an increase, and I suspect that's at least the case for good on. Then they say, okay, you know, what, thank you very much, you know, it was a work nice working together, but we want you to take that offer from the other team.

“Yeah, you do kind of wonder like how much do you value, like what's the value of his contract?”

Let's just say he doesn't win another race all year and he wins five world tour races. How we not many, like even I'm looking right now, the riders that have won more pro races than him are Paul success from Coevinapole, Jonathan Malon, Pagachar, Vindigard, Del Toro, Schmidt, all those guys on big, big money, Schmidt, probably two beyond big money in the near future. So you well, I mean, and also, you know, how many of those, how many of the current riders on E-Eos

have won five world tour races? How many, not many? I mean, how many riders on E-Eos, yeah, have ever in their career, total won five world tour races? I mean, it's been a few, in a few, historically, but, you know, it's not easy to win and today cycling, you know, so listen, great, great, great signing for both of them for E-Eos and Nicodon, and he's not finished, he's going to win more races this guy, and, you know, the thing is also like,

you know, at the races he is in the stages that suit him, he gets the whole support of the whole team behind him, which is, you know, obviously great for the confidence and also, you know, pressure to the liver. I felt bad for the amount of stage to do a lot of work, and then, yeah, sprint, I got your, I don't know if you noticed, but I don't know if you saw, I mean, I don't know what's happening in this race, uh, there's a guy who has been in front, I mean, of some of the stages

I, and in today, he, today, he, Valentin, Parapantra. Yeah, he's served in this sprint, you know,

“this is sprinting out, I think yesterday, he was up there also, like, it was top 10 at least,”

it was crazy, and that's pretty, I mean, if you see, I mean, if you see Valentin Parapantra,

and someone, someone said to me, they're like, do you think he is the highest 20 second

watt per kilo in the world? It's possible he does, right? So, if you're accelerating that little mass, I mean, the guy weighs, yeah, but not, not on the flat Spencer on the flats, it's, it's, well, these have also been deceptively kind of uphill finishes, too. Yeah, yeah, but not what's

“per kilo, it's, it's, you know, you have to put things in perspective, it's less important,”

it's pure, the pure power, the worst per kilo. They have been tougher finishes, I think, than they look on TV, but it is crazy though, he's a fast rider, it is wild, how well he's doing these things. But you're going to positioning also, you have to be good at positioning, I mean, in smaller groups, which tends to be the case and, and, and Romani, I mean, there's no, it's not a coincidence that there are almost no sprinters here, you know, they saw the stages out,

hey, we're not going there, they'll chance we can sprint, you know? I mean, that's the value of having a guy like Gavdano, because he can go and win the sprints. I don't know if you saw today, he got overtaken by Finn Fisher Black, and then came back, which is really rare to see,

you almost never see that. Yeah, hard to do. Actually, let's take a quick break, and then I have

one more question for you about Romani, and then we'll move on from this race, this really,

“race so far. I will be right back. Everybody, this episode is brought to by 2%. What if the key to”

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So far, Prima's Rockwich. Last time on stage two, he actually had a good prologue. In the prologue, he finished his a must watch race. By the way, it's three and a half minutes. Actually, super interesting. You rarely see a race that short and pro cycling. He finishes in eighth just

one second behind Pagachar in the prologue, something. Primaoses. He's got something cooking here.

On stage one, he was just been the hardest stage. So far, he finished his 21 seconds behind in that group. Looks pretty good. Stage two, he loses minutes. And then today he loses a bunch of time. So he was dropped very far from the finish after working for the looks like he's working for the team, but do you have any insight on what's going on there? No, I don't know. I mean, obviously, you know, if he was dropped in in the prologue, it means he was in good shape.

Already on stage one, Spencer, you know, he's the one who started to set the temple before. No, actually, no, he followed Pagachar first. He followed Pagachar. Yeah. And after

pace and then wasn't able to. And then they were for a while. They were together with Lippewitz

“and then he got dropped from Lippewitz. Lippewitz preached up to Pagachar and and Primaose got”

in the second group in the second. But anyways, I don't know what happened in the meantime.

I don't know why he lost time yesterday. He was working already. He was on the climb before the finish. He was the guy who started to set the pace with the intention to drop Dorian Godon, which initially they got, I mean, they got there. Godon got dropped, but came back. But Primaose didn't come back, so he did the job and then set up, I guess. Yeah. I mean, this course is hard to like, there's a lot of these climbs. It's like, yeah,

you're going to drop Godon, but then you've got this long, or long run to the finish line. And like, how realistically how strong is your team and how many resources are you willing to deploy to keep Godon strong? He's not going to stay up. I've also been Spencer that he's not feeling 100% otherwise. I don't think Primaose would sacrifice himself on stage to for the possibility to maybe win and it's very unlikely to win with Fin Fischer Black. So there must be something

off. I mean, another guy we haven't talked about, Spencer is definitely something off with him,

“is Oscar Omni. You know, did the prologue and then didn't start stage one, I think.”

And he did publish some data like his, the way he, I mean, he was not recovering. There's something off. You know, he, he put out the statement that he was super disappointed to learn everybody down, but, you know, and he published data like everything was really good. He had his, some of his best numbers and then all of a sudden there was a drop in the graph. You know, it was all green and then all of a sudden it turned red. I don't know if you saw that. So obviously, something, something's

off there, time to go back to the drawing table. First of all, do some tests I guess to see what's wrong physically. And then start obviously a new program because, you know, I guess good, only the fact that he was at Romney is also was also with a purpose to get some more base and then probably go on altitude. So they have to, they'll have to reconsider that.

“Yeah, I do wonder about a guy like that because last year, he was talk, he was super important.”

He was the most important writer to their team like by point score than anyone in the, anyone

else in the sport, but not a lot of pressure externally, if you think you we never before race were like Oscar on Lee, what's he going to do? It was like, wow, Oscar on Lee's doing so good. And I do kind of wonder what that experience is like when it's flipped. And you're going to every race and everyone's saying, oh, six, six million Euro man, how's he going to do? Like that's got to be hard. I would imagine six million to buy out as Spencer's salary. Yeah, the buy out.

Yes, this is a significant buy out, but yeah, it's a pressure. Way to go picnic post in L, just spin in deals over there. Moving on to Eshborn Frankfurt World Tour one day race, Johan former winner just a mere 30 years ago was that right? 35 to 30 this morning, I got remembered your mandate, you know, true memories that show up on your Facebook page, you know, I'm all so I'm still have a face. Yeah, you're on face crunch

and face work every morning. No, not crunching it, but you know, I've got the notifications said, oh, it's the first of me today. So I got the pictures I reposted them for people who want to check them out. Yeah, 35 years ago, man, that was, yeah, back then it was, it was a world cup in the world to the existence. It was a world cup race and it was kind of the last race of the classic season, you know, it was like the whoever had failed in the classics had a

like an opportunity to show themselves again and yeah, in 1991, so 35 years ago, I was fortunate to win that race. We had, I got a message this morning from an X-D might meet of mine sending me the screenshot. There was, we had three loto riders in the top five. So I won, we say it was second and some emails, we send me the screenshot was fifth and then we had another rider, Serge Baghe who unfortunately is not amongst us anymore in 10 to play. So four loto riders in the

top 10 in that race was pretty good day. Yeah, I mean, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a beautiful area too. I mean, Frankfurt, not known as, you probably aren't going to go on vacation or Frankfurt,

but this race always makes it look fantastic. And today, I think, I think, I think the,

and it was called Rundum, that handing her to her. So there was, there's a big tower in Frankfurt,

the handing her to her. And it was basically the local circuits were around that tower.

“They changed it now, but they, I think compared to the last few additions, they made the course harder,”

they put in an extra climb in, in the final circuit. And I mean, there was, it was really, it was a nice race. I mean, it was suspense until the end, you know, looked like the break away, it was going to make it. Then, you know, it was, they came back, but then, ultimately, the Peloton or whatever, whenever it was left from the Peloton, I actually didn't make it back because the top 10 is still the 10 riders from the break away, and then the next guy is basically on the

wheel, but the first of the Peloton. Yeah, one by Georg Zimmermann, German champion, again, Lotto. So Lotto has a few, a few wins in that, in this race already. And yeah, Tom Pitcock, second, you know, getting his form back, I would say, you know, bit by bit after his crash in Catalonia, and then went to that great spring of this rider. I mean, he was strong. I think he was the strongest rider in the race, got third. So yeah, great podium, great for German cycling,

I mean, to have a German rider win one of the two most important races in Germany, but in that one in Hamburg. And then on top of that in the national champions, German champions jersey, that's pretty cool. Yeah, first German winters since 2019, Pascal Acumen. And I don't know if the race has gotten better because like just going back to it's Acumen, the winners are Acumen, Kristoff, Kristoff, Kristoff, Kristoff. Go out. The since COVID, the race has been pretty

pretty incredible. Like it's always this situation where you have a strong break away,

getting caught by a super reduced Peloton. The course design seems to be very good. Like whatever they've added has made it incredible. So it was a thrilling race coming into the finish. Yeah, it's cool to see a German rider winning the maybe the biggest second biggest German race. One of one of the things, he's the one of the two Hamburg is newer. Yeah, and Hamburg, I guess you kind of, you can get a big field. Or you get in a strong field because of

“where it is on the calendar, but yeah, and I think of like the biggest German race, one day race,”

how we think of Frankfurt. Pitcock looks good. I thought that was a pretty good showing from him. Coming, you know, he's good at tour the Alps, the age, bad luck, and probably a little undercoach because of the injury. And then today that's a hard race. You know, and he's in the front in that break away and then get second in the sprint, pretty impressive. Yeah, let's a bit go because of the racer. You know, I mean, these kind of races, that's like pitcocks ideal to

the rainy spongey. I think there were two riders in front. It was, it was bent to it and then this

French guy from EF, I always forget his name. It's actually a really good rider. This guy is

Alex Bodon. Alex Bodon. Yeah, so they were gone and then Pitcock, you know, and typical Pitcock fashion, you know, flashed towards those two guys. And then yeah, then some other rider's came back. I mean, Zimmerman won. He was definitely not the strongest rider of the race. But, you know,

“he chose his moment. And yeah, good win, man. Stay E. Coi, arrow helmet. That's how he won.”

You got to run out and get that helmet today. And I'm just, yeah, nothing else, right, to tie up on this race. He actually, if you've recognized this guy, it's because in 2024, he, I still think about this to her stage. He just missed out on a tour stage when two. No, no, 2020, three was it. Yeah. And second two was on in my channel. Yep. And so he was part of like the innermer's shape group that merged with a lot of Pellobo bow, beat him in a tour stage in 2023 from

a break away. But he was, again, was also in the break away today. I know it. He is, he gets fourth today. I mean, the boss rider, the two boss old riders who retire at the end of the year, him, and the two brothers, they're what's what are the names? Oh, is a gear. Is Aguera. Yeah, he's Aguera. They have this, I mean, they have a good season, man. He's Aguera has a great season. I mean, great to bring you. Yeah, I was to do this. But we tire at the end of the season. Like Bill Bell,

six that we age, he's retiring. Got to be hard to retire when you're that good. Yeah, no, I don't think so. I don't think so. You know, they have families. They know what, you know, this is what they can do, what they can't do. And, you know, they've seen it, man. I mean, I think I don't think anybody, I mean, the rumor is that in in in in coffees, they're, they're trying to convince

the money would be hard to turn down. But I guess if you, if you think like, I just, I cannot do this process again, to be as good as I am now, then the answer to it. You can't do this only for the money. I mean, some of them probably can, but usually normally, I mean, it's hard, man, to wake up in the morning and knowing it's your last season. And then you don't really want to do it, but you decided because of the money. It's, it's, it's going to be a long season, man. No matter how long,

“how long, how good the money is, it's going to be a very long season. That's what FDJ is for.”

Go to FDJ. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That, that, that is how the team started. It was a retirement

team, basically. Yeah. It's pretty good now. I feel like, yeah, it used to be more common. It's

see guys just totally check out. It'd be like three or four years of a big deal just hanging out. Yeah. Not really doing that much harder to do that in today's cycling, but now the race, two of Turkey going on. It's kind of been an odd time if you're in the U.S. It's on a little bit earlier because it's further east. But the, the winner, the, the current leader of the race is a guy, we can't be, the race is not finished yet. That's still, that's, yeah, the current

leader, not the winner. And he's not want to stage yet either. But the leader of the race is Ceperwick, who we've talked about just a few weeks ago, he's on Cahoe roll. He's only leading though, even even so so on a quippo current farm of by five seconds, who won a mount stage of few on stage three, I frankly had forgotten that this guy was racing you on. I did not know he was still in the professional peloton. So it's been, it's been an Emmys, he's had some issues, he's had

some physical problems. I mean, you know, this was supposed to be the the equal of a Gambernal, you know, they both came from, they both came from the team of Johnny Savio, was a called Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django, Django

you can look it up. But yeah, so-so, it's pure climber, you know, if you see him, he's, you know,

“super light had a few really good winds. I think he's a double winner of the tour of Brugos,”

if I'm not mistaken. And, you know, kind of faded away a bit is now on getting far more, one that the super hard mountain stage was very hard. He won that. And Sebastian Berwick

was second there. He came back from quite far behind. By the way, the family of

this rider, Sebastian Berwick or listeners of our show. Thank you very much, family Berwick. You know, 26 years old, on Kacharural was, I think he was two years on Israel at first and now is in his second year at Kacharural, is going to raise the tour to France. It's a country where just assuming that he's going to raise the tour to France. I mean, Kacharural is raising the tour. I mean,

“I think you can know. That's right. That would be a no choice. Definitely. I mean,”

if he's not raising the tour of the tour to France, I'm going to call their manager. I know I know the map to say. But yeah, I mean, it looks like he's the strongest right, the strongest climber right now. So most likely he will. He's only five seconds ahead. If I think today,

he got second and so far got passed on the line by Jordan Jigat. You got the tour last year,

by the way. Yeah. And Berwick's not going to be. It's not I would have been two seconds, I guess, because he would have gotten four seconds to four seconds. Yeah. Yeah. So it would have been one second. Yeah. So yeah, not over, not over, but also two statements for Tom Krabba in his print. And then another stage for Van Uden, I think, Kasper Van Uden, who won another stage in the sprint. This is a guy who won the Geo stage last year last year on a picnic, post NL. And then

today's, today's winner is an Italian writer. I forgot his name. Come from the Breakaway. No? Yeah. Oh, man. I'm going to butcher this poor guy's name. His name is Skagit's a huge

in and a vowel always throw me off. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's right. Okay. This team I've never

heard of. M. M. B. H. Bank CSB Telecom Fort. And it appears to be from Hungary. I don't know what the theme is from. No, it's a no. Not Italian team. No. It's the flag is flipped. So it looks like an Italian flag, but it's the other way. Okay. That it's Hungary. Hungary. Crazy. Yeah. And I don't know if you saw it, but I'm thinking about picnic post NL. So Kasper Van Uden wins that stage. Is that the first time they won stage since? No, it was their first win of the season.

First wins since a since the tour of Switzerland, right? When I was, I don't know.

Absolutely. That first we have the season. Yeah. That team is not good, man. That's

I mean, it's not a good team. Wow. Yeah. Since since June of last year, holy smokes, but did you notice that I thought they were going to do it. Modern adventures,

“pro cycling stage. One, I believe was that stage one. Did they get second? They got second,”

like a close second to co-fittus. It was the right one. And the alcofski, you know, the the polis rider. Yeah, Riley Pickerel's the one who got second. I thought for sure they had it. What have been a big win for those guys? So, but yeah, because they haven't won a race yet, no, don't do so far. I don't. Wait. Is that true? Well, yeah, I don't want South African time-trail championships. Okay. Okay. Yeah. But I don't

really count national championships because sometimes it can be a shoe and I mean, I would have been a big deal for them. I think that's it on the tour of Turkey. I'm curious to see what happens over the last two stages. If September were to hold this off, that would be a big result for him.

“Yeah, for sure. I think he's going to do it. It looks, he looks like he's on the up and then”

so I mean, obviously great morale now. Also a really good team, good help in the mountains for him. He has that two really strong support riders. And how are those a good team? I mean, it's, I mean, listen, there's a reason why they got invited to the tour of France because

they were the first in the classification of all the eligible pro teams, except the ones who were

automatically qualified, you know, like Tudor and and Q3 to 6.5. Yeah. And which other team? Tudor. Q3 to 0.5. And then the other team would have been hold on a second. How can we not? Well, do you know, X? No, but then they did well. They were on a, well, they're a world tour. It's Covid-19. Covid-19. Yeah, Covid-19. Oh, god. Four go for this. Yeah. Remember, um, yeah, you're right. They're, they're the first, the first team of

“all the other teams that were in the running for a spot. And that's, that's why they got selected.”

I mean, far and square. Well, can you think, as I mean, about is doing the zero? I believe the rockets, the touch of my rockets, is there, can you think of a team whose first grand tour was the Tour de France? I don't think I can think of one. Um, probably going to say you as postal. They're for 9th grade, 996. How did that go? Inside the team. Order 96. Now, we're going to 96. Was it 98 or 97? I don't remember. But it was definitely a first round tour.

Okay. I can't imagine that to rest. It was, it was also, uh, you know, was the only American team and that was the reason why they got selected. It was that was before I was with the S there. Well, yeah, you're still racing in 96. Professional rider, right? Yeah, I, I do, I do, remember, uh, and I don't think in 96, they were in the tour. I don't, 97. No, they were not. They were not. Uh, 97. They might have been in the tour. I do, I, I am on a hundred percent

tour. They were in 98. I also was still racing my last year. And I remember they were in the tour. I think they even got six, they know what was the last stage. Uh, Tyler Hamilton got second in the time trial. If I'm not mistaken, behind y'all, Rick. And I think they had a rider in a breakaway, and then Shaw, sitting a little bit, I finished, uh, sixth in the GC. Dang, you can take. Dang, I'm ignorant. Hey, that's a, that's a pretty good memory. Sixth of the 1998 Tour de France. Yeah. Wow,

this guy pretty well. You know his dad very well. Excellent. Yes. I'm poltey. They're back. Just cool to see. Um, on, on cycling is what we'll do, uh, net company NES last. I just want to give people a heads up. Sure to tell you. We got some, well, we're going to do a real zero preview next week, a little bit of bad news. I don't think this was shocking to us, Johan. You called this, last time we saw him race. Schwalime made us something's not right. He's not doing the

zero to tell you. He was really the only rider I thought they could have challenged. You know, it's been a guard for the titles. Yeah. That's also to take with a grain of salt. Good. You have challenged him. We need push to play hard at the Volta. Yeah, but to me, it looks like Jonas is super well prepared now for the zero. The Volta last year was a, you know, appendix of Jonas after the tour didn't go to altitude. Didn't go to altitude.

Yeah, I'm stayed at home. Uh, you know, that was not the best Jonas, uh, and he's still one predominantly, especially, you know, in that last stage, that last month's stage. But anyways, yeah, go ahead, Spencer. We also lose Mika Landa and Richard Caripass. Richard Caripass with the cyst in a, in a not great area, and go apparently in cyst. And then, and then Landa with

a pelvic fracture. Yeah. Finally, as a consequence of the crash in tour of Catalonia. Yeah,

I had missed that. Yeah. Well, I mean, they saw it later. I mean, they didn't see it initially. It came. Yeah. Yeah, not great. Not it. Yeah. And so, so let's, these guys are out. They're

“not coming. Let's just say, Jonas is the favorite for sure. Who second and third in this race now?”

I think, Pelizari and Jay Hindley both from the same team on Red Bull. Yeah. Pelizari is in great shape, Italian, you know, and then Hindley, ex-winner also looks in pretty good shape. Uh, was in the final present in the final of Lesbaston Lyash, and then, you know, he, Hindley is a giro rider. He's gotten second and first already in this race. I actually don't know if he didn't get second twice.

That's a great question. So we got second twice. He got second to Karapas and second to Dale Gagan Hart and won it also. Wait, we need to get--

Oh, no, no, no, no. You won against Karapas, sorry. Sorry. Yeah, yeah, he won. Yeah.

Yeah, so he got one time, second one time first, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. And then I would imagine. So Pelazari, I agree Pelazari is going to be great. Jai Henley looks great, excited for him. How do you think--

“what's he going to learn all's ceiling at this year?”

I think I'm going to learn all is good shape. Is this the best egg on the Bernal we see now? I would say, you know, he could be a candidate for the podium. You know, I mean, he's been up there. He was fifth at Leash, right, also, which is--

You know, you mean, precision on the sprint, I-- Of a race that actually is not his preferred terrain. I mean, he was third, I think, in a second, in two of the Ops, was he second or third? Second, he was second, right, because he looked.

And then out of the Bernal's third. So out of the Bernal's also racing to Giro. That's a really good duo Bernal and out of the Bernal. And then you have Adam Yates. And I think, obviously, he's going to be now the leader of UAE.

I think. Now that Yates Brothers-- No Yates Brothers can win this year to tie a command. Well, these guys at this age-- No, you're right, Yates.

You'd be a fool to write off Adam Yates. I've forgotten how he was doing this race. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I haven't gone through-- I mean, we're going to go more in detail in the preview.

But those are the names that come up in my minds like immediately.

“But I can't see anybody get close to you on us, honestly.”

Yeah, we'll talk about it more in the preview. But I think you're probably right there. I think we're watching for the podium. But you know, we would have said the same thing. You would not have guessed Simon Yates would have won last year's year.

There's yours, a weird race. Weird stuff can happen. But you know, it's a very good rider, hard to imagine him losing it. Last bit of news we have, Nios, grenadiers, announced new title sponsor, net company.

I think we talked about this already. It's kind of been brewing for a while.

But 100 million Euro deal over five years.

So 20 million Euros worth of funding per year.

And they also want to integrate there. It's in-- The company-- this is like the company's log line. The company provides end-to-end IT services from development through to maintenance and operations to public and private

organizations throughout Europe. They basically like run logistics at places like Heathrow and the Munich Airport.

“I believe they got their start at the Copenhagen Airport.”

I would imagine they, you know, let's say like you can imagine. Think how complicated it gets. Oh, it planes late at Heathrow. And then you have all these knock-on-effects. And they have a technology service that helps you organize all

that they have an AI platform pulse AI that they want to use to help the team train and be better. And when the two of the friends-- I have a way to win the two of the friends, Johanna. I'm not going to reveal it here.

But I have a secret to winning the two of the friends. And then it involves giving one or two writers many, many euros per year to raise for you. But I mean, the next question is, well, first of all, I mean, this AI, obviously, it's the future.

I mean, it's not the future, it's the present.

But I always think when I read that, as I said,

is this going to be the new Dave Brielle's for show, blowing smoke, like the inventor of marginal gains is now going to bring the team back with AI? Is that going to be the story?

“I think what should happen is probably--”

we don't know if it's an option or not. But net company being a Danish-- it's Danish, right? Danish, yes. Being a Danish company is getting Johanna's language

on the team. That's probably probably a smart move. For his next contract, I don't know how long. I think Johanna's is probably pretty tight with Fizma. And likes it there.

And a street is with a lot of respect. You know, so it would be difficult. But I think that would be probably something to consider. And then also, I mean, it would go full gas after post-exas. That's those who do riders that would go after to have a shot

at winning the tour, because with the guys they have now, they're not going to win it. Now, in net company, it gives them the financial muscle to do that. I would say the question is, Spencer, the question I have

is, OK, the numbers that are out there

is 20 million a year for five years.

That my question is, is this on top of the budget? Or is this because Jim Radcliffe has given the title sponsorship a way. And we all know that Radcliffe pays a lot more than 20 million. Reportedly, it was 50 million per year.

That emails are Radcliffe paid to the team. Is this 20 million on top of it? Or is this 20 million less that Radcliffe pays? Because, you know, it's not, I mean, it's rich, but you know, stupid, you know, it's hard, yeah.

You would say, OK, you know, I'm going to still going to pay 50 million. But by the way, somebody who pays 20 million is going to take the name away. On the other hand, you could mean we don't know

what the behind-the-scenes business deals are. As we all know, Radcliffe has a lot of companies. They're probably crossover business, same as he has with total energies, right? It's not a pure sponsorship deal.

There's internal business between emails and total energies. And they use the team to kind of facilitate that, also. So we don't know. Now, if reportedly, the budget of the team was 50,

“is it not going to be 70, that changes the whole game?”

I am tempted to think that's not going to be the case. That they're going to get some extra budget, but Radcliffe is also going to pay less. Yeah, I think you're right. So you can go look their budget up.

It's like, if you're a British company, you have to publish all your books.

So it'd be like 50 million Euro budget.

But you've got to think, like a bite company puts a lot of money. You know, they have the secondary tertiary sponsors that put a lot of money in. Radcliffe, let's just say Radcliffe is putting in 35 million a year. I don't think, as you say, I don't think the budget is just going

to jump up 20 million, because what would you even be spending that on? I think it just gives them the flexibility to Radcliffe doesn't have to spend as much of his own money. And if this writer that can win the two to France is now

available, they can write a check if they need to. Like, they've got just a little bit more flexibility. I think it's the idea here. Yeah, yeah, I think you're right. And we also, we're not going to litigate.

How are they going to use AI? Is AI going to change the game? But I will say on the marginal gains, some of the stuff, if you really think about it, was just low hanging fruit that they're picking.

I think nobody ever cooled down after bike races before teams

So I think it's just going to be about that.

Like, picking off this low hanging fruit that people are overlooking or they're, you know, because cycling is like blind to some stuff. Like, that's crazy to think nobody cooled down. And the team actually had a hard time getting writers to

do it because they'd get made fun of for it. So they got, they got, they were, they were pioneers and a lot of stuff in skin suits. I mean, suits, yeah, you've got team sky. I can tell you, these guys, when they showed up at

its skin suits at the beginning, they were laughed at. I am 100 sure.

“I mean, I remember how it was back in the days, you know,”

if you would have shown up with a skin suit at a road race, they would say, where are you going, man? What is this? Yep.

I mean, I saw, I mean, maybe we can post the picture in, you know,

when we talk about, in about Frankfurt. I saw my the picture and my jersey when I won Frankfurt. You should see this, Spencer. It is a parachute. It was like a wet windy day, right?

Yeah, it's crazy. You know, it's crazy. I mean, we, we, we thought it was normal. You know, the jersey's had to be loose because, you know, they couldn't be too tight because you couldn't breathe.

You know, it was, it needed to be, it was unbelievable. I mean, we didn't, I mean, 42 or 44 centimeter handlebars. You know, sky, later e-nails, they changed a lot of things. I mean, that's for sure. But, you know, we'll see, we'll see what this AI, I think this AI announcement

is also obviously a marketing tool AI right now is at the fingertips of everybody.

If you really want to use it, you can use this a lot of different programs

and companies who offer those services. Well, this is what, this is what, this is what I have to deal with an AI company now. Also, no? French, French AI company and there's a larger political component here that we won't get into.

But you said there's a lot of different AI platforms. You can use, there's not many that are European. And there's a big kerfuffle in the UK right now because you have like Palantir, which is a Denver-based company in the US. And they have all these contracts in the UK.

But then there's a concern of like dual. Do we just have to do whatever the US says? Because their AI company is now control everything. So there's just big movement to have an autonomy and AI in Europe and net companies like one of the leaders in that.

“So I just assume that's why they're doing it.”

The part of the reason why they're doing the sponsors is trying to get out, advertise themselves as a way for Europe to have AI autonomy and not be reliant on the US. But right, Spencer, before we leave, I have somebody who is here. He helps me, he was, he was, you know, crying here.

He wants to come on the show. It's Bobby. Bobby's back. Just close off. What type of dog is Bobby again?

This is a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a dark suit. It's a miniature, dark suit. I mean, there's three different sizes. It's a long hair, caninchen. Caninchen is the German word for the small rabbit.

And so this, this breed, apparently, I mean, what I've been told. It's been, it's been bred in, you know, like a few hundred years ago to, to chase rabbits into rabbit holes. So it's a very, it's the smallest size of a dog's one. Long hair.

OK. I think I've said this on the show. Gotta get Bobby over to my yard. Get some of these rabbits on the show. I got a control over your man.

“Well, thanks, Johan, and enjoy your time with Bobby this evening.”

OK, anything else to add? That's it. We'll see each other next week for the preview of the zero. Yeah, mid in the zero starts on a Friday, which is really disoriented. So we'll be back mid next week, also before we leave before we forget.

We will, the last day of the year to tell you, we're doing a live show in Belgium at the wattage festival in, in Austin, Austin, Austin, Austin, Texas, Austin, the Belgian. I'm going to say it properly. It's the really what the Asia festival. We'll see.

It's a three day event. And on Saturday, Sunday, there's a lot of different shows and we've been invited with the move to do a live podcast on the main stage of the reader wattage festival in Belgium at the Belgian coast. And whoever wants to attend in person, I guess, we're going to put the link in the

show. It's right. Yeah, I'll still be a link to buy tickets in the show notes. Yeah. OK.

All right. Well, thank you so much. We'll be back next week with our zero preview. OK. Thanks, Spencer.

OK. Bye. (upbeat music)